Today I
want to talk about a book, one of the few books in my life that I struggled to
read. The original title is "A date in your diary" and the writer is
called Jules Stanbridge, but I've read the book in Italian with the title of
“Appuntamento con l’amore”. It was not hard to read this book because it was
too complicated or challenging, on the contrary, it had to be an easy reading,
that I needed very much after the latest books I've read, very difficult and
challenging books mainly because of the topics covered. So I thought, a romance
novel is exactly what I need to rest my eyes and my mind, but I could not make
a worse choice! Not the type of the novel makes me do these considerations, I
have read many romance novels in my life, I myself have written a couple of
romance novels when I was a teenager and, in general, I like these readings
because they are flowing, funny, always have a way to make you laugh and dream
with open eyes, but none of these characteristics applies to this book. The
narrative is not consistent, the characters are briefly described, the
dialogues are short, do not allow to understand the characters and do not make
laugh and if a blog with similar posts to those described in the novel were to
arouse the interest of the whole community, after only a couple of attempts,
that would be an insult to the entire world of blogging. For a book whose main
theme is love in the age of the Internet, the dates with men found on the
Internet are described briefly, I have to say though that the names given to
these men are quite funny and delightful. The fact that the only characters
that the author describes with some care are Harriet Peel, the father and the
sister of the protagonist, make me believe that they are characters designed or
constructed after the reality of the writer's life. It's clear from the novel
Jules Stanbridge wants to be a modern Jane Austen, however, Jane Austen has
never been predictable and her books are also popular nowadays thanks to her
talent in illustrating situations and moods. The story and the characters are
superficial and the changes in circumstances are not justified in any way. Harriet
Peel, described and seen by all as a very little interesting woman, even ugly,
devoid of talent and success in the workplace, suddenly becomes the center of
the universe, four men (including a former boyfriend who left her for another
woman,more beautiful) are competing for her as if she was Gisele Bundcken, a
prestigious journal in London insists in hiring her and eventually, in a couple
of days, without explaining how, and with what money, she sets up her own
bussiness. This book disappointed me because it did not allowed me to see the
birth of the spark between the characters, to understand that he loves her and
that she is talented and has the potential, almost every time I was told what I
had to see and believe. But I appreciated the detailed way in which the cities
cities Bath and London were evoked, although the description was biased and
full of stereotypes, it reflected the inner reality of Harriet's character. We
all love happy endings and fiction, and we all want to believe that the
unpleasant situations can change, but a happy ending so sudden and inexplicable
is an insult to the intelligence of the readers. I do not recommend this book
and all I have said above is sufficient reason not to, but the fact that this
book has 343 pages compels me to advise you to make better use of the time that
you have available. You are equally free to read it and to confront ideas and
opinions on the topic.